Down low

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Down Low 1999

Down Low is a German Hip-Hop - Duo from Kaiserslautern and one of the first bands to hip-hop mid-1990s with artists such as C-block , Nana and AK-SWIFT have brought in a "European" form.

history

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The band was founded in December 1995 in the K-Town studios of Kaiserslautern. The members at the time were the rapper Joe Thompson, who had served in the US Army during Operation Desert Storm and also with Rod. D was friends from Fun Factory , as well as the singer Darren Tucker. The first single Don't Look Any Further , a hip-hop version of the song of the same name by Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett from 1984, has not yet received any attention. The second song Vision of Life, however, quickly became a hit in several European countries in mid-1996 and stayed in the top 30 of the German single charts for months .

Shortly after Vision of Life was released , Darren Tucker had to leave the group because of a dispute with his manager. He was succeeded by Mike Dalien. The album Visions and the singles Murder about the fall of O. J. Simpson , Potion and Lovething / We Do It Like That soon followed . Together with Flip Da Scrip , Nothing Like Viva was created , a hymn of praise for the German music channel VIVA under the project name Hip Hop Alliance . A curiosity: The German music producer Oliver Petras (Valerie B., Greg Bailey, Trysha) was initially commissioned by EMI with a remix, which was declared the official radio version after completion.

At the end of 1997 the second album It Ain't Over followed . The song Johnny B. , a cover version of the Hooters , became Down Low's biggest hit to date and climbed to number 4 in the German single charts. Radio NRJ named the band Best Rap Act 1997 .

In the spring of 1998, Down Low founded the Rappers Against Racism to support up-and-coming singers and rappers (La Mazz, Trooper Da Don , Jay Supreme and others) and at the same time to draw attention to the racism that is still present in Germany. Down Low themselves were on their version of the Foreigner classic I Want to Know What Love Is , but then withdrew from the project because they felt exploited by the Shift Music record company.

In the fall of 1998, Down Low released the album Third Dimension . The single Once Upon a Time was able to build on past successes; Probably the saddest song of the group contained elements from the score for Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod by Ennio Morricone . With its successor, H. I. V. , attention was drawn to the dangers of the AIDS virus.

After the release of a greatest hits album, the band took a break of 1½ years before the fourth album, The 4th Level , was released in 2001 , which was significantly more R&B- heavy than its predecessors . However, Mike Dalien left the band due to musical differences in 2001 at the beginning of work on The 4th Level . He was succeeded by Erick "Rick" Lamont Smith, who had already worked with Down Low in the past and released a few solo singles under the names La Mazz and Dressman. Since the German public had meanwhile lost interest in Eurorap, Down Low could not celebrate any further successes here, but still land a few hits in Poland . In 2002, the record company released a remix of Murder with samples of the US rapper Warren G .

In 2003 a DVD was released under the title Visions - The Singles 1997-2003 . In the fall of 2003, the single Living in the Ghetto was released , which stylistically strongly resembled the US rapper 50 Cent . The release, however, was a solo effort by the record company; the artists themselves only found out about it later, and due to the lack of a promotion, the song did not attract any commercial attention (but it still became a club hit). Joe Thompson later accused Shift Music of cannibalizing Down Low out of financial difficulties. An album called Down Low V / Adrenaline was announced for 2004, but was not released due to creative differences with the record label. For a while it looked like the artists were going to sign a deal with a new label, possibly in the US and probably for legal reasons under a new project name.

In April 2005, Joe announced that they had settled the dispute with Shift and would be working on new material again. As a harbinger of the new album Return of the Trendsetter , the song Every Day (MMMM) was released on October 27, 2006 , to which a sample of the Crash Test Dummies was added. Start the Riot and Africa (feat. Scream Factory) were released as further singles . Africa in particular became a hit in various black charts.

2010 saw the return of Mike Dalien. On February 11, 2011 the sampler Legends-and-Diamonds was released , on which Down Low can be heard with other European rap artists. In 2013 the German DJ Steve Cypress released the single Party 2 Night together with Down Low . On May 23, 2014, the comeback single Friday Night was released . In 2017 the successor single Fields of Gold was released.

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH
1996 Visions DE77 (5 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: October 1996
1997 It ain't over DE37 (8 weeks)
DE 		AT47 (1 week)
AT 		-
First published: November 1997
1998 Third dimension DE84 (1 week)
DE 		- -
First published: November 1998

More albums

  • 1999: Moonlight - The Album
  • 2001: The 4th Level
  • 2006: Return of the Trendsetter

Compilations

  • 1998: Singles Collection
  • 1999: Best Of
  • 1999: So Long Goodbye
  • 2004: Down Low & Friends
  • 2005: Greatest Hits
  • 2011: Legends and Diamonds

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH
1996 Vision of Life
Visions 		DE19 (18 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: May 1996
Murder
Visions 		DE25 (17 weeks)
DE 		- CH38 (7 weeks)
CH
First published: September 1996
Nothing Like Viva
Visions 		DE91 (1 week)
DE 		- CH46 (3 weeks)
CH
First release: November 1996
Hip Hop Alliance feat. Down Low and Flip Da Scrip
1997 Potion
visions 		DE37 (9 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: January 1997
Lovething
Visions 		DE82 (6 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: April 1997
Moonlight
It Ain't Over 		DE35 (11 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: July 1997
Johnny B
It Ain't Over 		DE4 (18 weeks)
DE 		AT13 (13 weeks)
AT 		CH8 (17 weeks)
CH
First published: October 1997
1998 I want to know what love is DE36 (9 weeks)
DE 		AT20 (11 weeks)
AT 		-
First published: March 1998
Rappers Against Racism feat.
Down Low, La Mazz and Scream Factory
Hit Me Right
It Ain't Over 		DE95 (2 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: May 1998
Once Upon a Time
Third Dimension 		DE4 (15 weeks)
DE 		AT7 (12 weeks)
AT 		CH6 (12 weeks)
CH
First published: October 1998
1999 HIV
third dimension 		DE53 (5 weeks)
DE 		- -
First published: March 1999
So long goodbye ...
Third Dimension 		DE64 (4 weeks)
DE 		- CH49 (2 weeks)
CH
First published: June 1999
2001 Don't You
The 4th Level 		DE99 (1 week)
DE 		- -
First published: February 2001

More singles

  • 1995: Don't Look Any Further
  • 1999: Thank you
  • 2001: Wouldn't It Be Good (feat. La Mazz)
  • 2002: La Serenissima
  • 2003: Living in the Ghetto
  • 2005: Every Day (Mmmm)
  • 2006: Start the Riot
  • 2007: Africa
  • 2013: Party 2 Night (Steve Cypress feat. Down Low and Rob Money)
  • 2014: Friday Night
  • 2017: Fields of Gold

swell

  1. ↑ a b Chart sources: Singles / Albums DE1 DE2 DE3

Web links